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HomeMy WebLinkAbout13B - MINUTES PREY COUNCIL CMT MTGMINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PARKS, RECREATION, EDUCATION AND YOUTH July 28, 2014 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting convened at 5:33 p.m. at Santa Ana City Hall Ross Annex Room 1600; 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California 92702. ATTENDANCE Council members Present Mayor Pro Tem, Sal Tinajero (Chair) Angelica Amezcua Roman Reyna Staff Present: David Cavazos, City Manager Gerardo Mouet, PRCSA Executive Director Ron Ono, Administrative Services Manager Jeannie Jurado, Community Services Manager Enrique Marban, Community Services Supervisor Juan Lara, Community Services Supervisor Hiram Uribe, Graphic Designer Public Speakers Barbara Lamere, Windsor Village Steve McGuigan, Riverview West Edgar Vazquez, Interamerican Sports • PUBLIC COMMENTS: o Public comments will be requested when item of interest is discussed. • APPROVAL OF MINUTES o Minutes of April 28, 2014 accepted as presented. Mayor Pro Tern Tinajero arrived at 5:44pm. PREY Regular Meeting Page 1 July 28, 2014 13B -1 • PARKS AND RECREATION DEFERRED MAINTENANCE UPDATE .o o Ron Ono presented how deferred maintenance is prioritized, managed, funded and its current funding challenges. Deferred Maintenance is classified in two areas: 1) Minor deferred maintenance (addressed by staff) and 2) Major deferred maintenance (addressed under contract). In the past General Fund provided $500,000 for deferred maintenance repairs. Currently, the General fund provides $100,000 for deferred maintenance that is spent within 3 months. Cell tower revenues is another funding source used for repairs parks with cell towers. Staffing consists of six (6) full time and two (2) part time staff devoted to addressing deferred maintenance in parks. Two (2) additional part time staff is needed to assist with repairs, provide safety back up and be part of a strike crew to address needed repairs. Currently a backlog of 500 service request is pending for minor deferred maintenance repairs totaling $1.5 million. Major deferred maintenance is estimated at $22.4 million. In addition, vandalism and theft to obtain recycle materials has added to the service request for repairs. o Mayor Pro Tern Tinajero indicated the city should look into a rewards program to reduce recycling of stolen property. • DISCUSSION ON SPORTS FIELD PROGRAMMING o Enrique Marban presented how the agency delegates sports field to the various sports organizations. Priority on field usage is based on which organization has the most participants that live within the ' /z mile radius of the park. This method is allowing neighborhood residents priority use of their neighborhood park and to encourage participants to walk to the park. The second part of the presentation was on sports field maintenance. Fields are closed for renovation based on the optimum time to grow turf and reduce down time to the participants. Unfortunately, the best time of the year is during the hot summer months when children are out of school and need the open park space for recreational play. The purpose of the renovation is to provide fields that are playable during the peak spring season. Renovation also facilitates ease of maintenance year round and provides a safer for the participants. The agency intends to introduce a pilot program to help manage the impact field closures have on sports organizations. The pilot will first focus on youth and softball diamonds. There are 16 registered baseball /softball youth organizations that are registered with the City of Santa Ana. The pilot will look '"o PREY Regular Meeting Page 2 July 28, 2014 13B -2 at providing alternative fields during closure and other practices for turf yr, maintenance. • Councilmember Reyna asked if the Willard playground, basketball courts and synthetic turf field are being used. Do we have staffing when the fields are being used to enforce field regulations on the synthetic turf field? • Mr. Marban indicated Willard Intermediate Park facilities are well used by the youth organization and residents. There are 8 youth soccer league that use the field, and residents use the rubberized track, basketball court and play equipment area daily, when school is not in session. • Councilmember Reyna indicated the purpose of developing Willard Intermediate Park is to encourage families to walk to the park. • Councilmember Reyna indicated he is concerned about the 8 week closure of the field during the summer months. Fields should be open for kids to play in the park during the summer. • Mayor Pro Tern Tinajero agreed and indicated the best time to close the fields is during November and December. • Mr. Mouet indicated staff will program field closures to accommodate the users, but the months available may not be the ideal time for grass to grow. We will also look into providing substitute fields. • Mayor Pro Tern indicated we should not close the field for complete renovation if we only need to mend a spot or portion of the field. We need to provide options for the organizations. McFadden Intermediate School has baseball fields. We should approach the SAUSD to Joint Use McFadden Intermediate sports field. • Councilmember Reyna reminded staff that as we expand field usage for city youth programs, there may not be enough fields available for other organizations. NEW YOUTH SPORTS, AFTERSCHOOL AND WELLNESS PROGRAM UPDATE o Jeannie Jurado presented the Recreation Programs; the Ten City produced events and staffing level. Indicated the Strategic Plan allocated $840,000 for 1) Year -round Youth Sports & After School Program ($600,000); 2) Health and Wellness Program ($200,000) and 3) the Catalina Camp ($40,000). These additional programs will require the addition of two full time staff, one recreation Program Coordinator and one Recreation Leader. 18 part time positions are being recruited to implement the Year Round Youth Sports Program and After School Program. PREY Regular Meeting Page 3 July 28, 2014 13B -3 o Juan Lara presented the current Youth Programs and the new programs that will be added with the additional funding. o Councilmember Reyna asked how were the 8 park sites selected, what do we do with kids during the summer? o Mr. Lara indicated the sites were selected based on the area where new programs are needed. The City still provides summer programs for the kids, such as aquatic programs, recreation swim, and other programs during the summer. DISCUSSION ON YOUTH SPORTS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM o Mr. Mouet indicated City Council approved $200,000 for the Scholarship Program. City Council requested PREY to review how the Scholarship Program would be implemented and the type of program. After a consensus, PREY will discuss the concept with the entire City Council on September 2, 2014. o Discussion focused on using $100,000 of the Scholarship Program funding for Youth Sports. The remaining $100,000 would help address deferred maintenance repairs (50 %) and part time general maintenance staffing (50 %). o Councilmember Reyna indicated he supported this proposal since addressed all areas of need (Scholarship program and Deferred Maintenance). o Mayor Pro Tern Tinajero also indicated this would be a good compromise to address both needs. o David Cavazos indicated we need to identify the maximum number of participants that would be eligible to receive scholarships per household. • CENTENNIAL ADULT EDUCATION CENTER STATUS UPDATE o PUBLIC COMMENTS Steve McGuigan reminded council that the land conversion also required the site be of equivalent recreational value. The 2.6 acre college site has more recreational value than 5 smaller sites. The college needs to be away from parks. They should be looking at other sites such as the site next to the Digital Media, the OC Register site, etc. The college will eventually out grow this site and will be asking the city for additional park space in the future. They need to find a site like the OC Register site where they have room for expansion in the future. PREY Regular Meeting Page 4 July 28, 2014 13B -4 • Barbara Lamere indicated Centennial Park was open to the public on May 1980. The college has increase traffic into the park. We don't have any more land to give away. The City is overcrowded. The college impacts parking for the park. Edgar Vasquez indicated soccer organizations need to work with Parks and Recreation to make the city a better place to live. $400,000 was collected in surcharge fees for field improvement. We need to make improvement to the fields or build new fields. Godinez parking structure is available to accommodate the additional field usage. Councilmember Amezcua indicated staff look at Joint Use of the Kennedy Elementary School site for field usage. • Mayor Pro Tern Tinajero indicated the surcharge is to maintain facilities. Mr. Mouet explained the surcharge was collected for field improvements, but the collection of this fee was frozen by City Council several years ago and will not grow. An alternative is to partner with the SAUSD to install synthetic turf on the Godinez football field. The $400,000 will pay a portion of the project and the SAUSD would need to come up with the balance. ■ Mayor Pro Tern Tinajero indicated the city needs to be good stewards and the surcharge needs to be re- established. o CENTENNIAL ADULT EDUCATION CENTER UPDATE • Ron Ono presented a status update of the land conversion. Mr. Ono provided a history of the college land lease, 5 year extensions and approval of a reimbursement agreement to begin the land conversion planning process. On March 2013 the National Park Service accepted the 1.4 acre McFadden /Orange site as new park property, but indicated additional property is needed to fulfill the land conversion requirement of equal value. On February 2014, City Council approved a five year lease extension and requested an update in 6 months (Aug 2014) and 12 months (Feb 2015). This presentation is the 6 month update. Five additional sites were presented to the College and the National Park Service: 1) Old Rescue Mission site; 2) Old Water Well site; 3) Memory Lane /SA River site;4) Property adjacent to Chepa's Park; 5) Old Fire Training Site at Centennial Park. Property #4 was sold to a developer and #5 is not eligible as replacement property. PREY Regular Meeting Page 5 July 28, 2014 13B -5 The following sites will still be short to match the college 2.6 acres. • McFadden /Orange site 1.4 acres • Old Rescue Mission site 0.38 acres • Old Water Well site 0.20 acres • Memory Lane /SA River site 0.46 acres Total 2.45 acres (0.15 areas short) Staff will be looking for additional properties as replacement property. On November 2014 the Reimbursement agreement with SA College will expire and needs to be amended. • MAJOR CITY PRODUCED EVENTS UPDATE o Jeannie Jurado presented the 10 City Produced Events for 2014. ■ Plaza Primavera (Sat. March 22) Dia del Nino (Sat. April 26) Cinco de Mayo (May 2, 3, and 4.) 4th of July Celebration (Fri. July 4th) Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream (Thur July 31) Plaza Wellness at Santa Ana Plaza (Sat. Sept 6th) ■ Fiestas Santa Ana (Sept. 12, 13, and 14) SOMOS (Sun Oct. 5) ■ Plaza Founders at Santa Ana Plaza (Sat Oct 25) • Plaza Navidena at Santa Ana Plaza (Sat Dec 13) o Mr. Mouet indicated the Fiestas Santa Ana parade route will be reversed this year. Starting at the stadium and disbursing at 15th Street. Judging will still take place at Civic Center /Ross. o Mayor Pro Tern Tinajero indicated we need more transparency on participant selection for the parade. Disney will be in the parade this year. ARTS AND CULTURE UPDATE o Gerardo Mouet presented various sculptures and murals located at city facilities, parks and the library. Indicated the selection of an artist for a new art piece at Flower Street Bike Trail and Sunflower to reflect the history of the Japanese American farmer is being finalized. In addition, Rebuilding Together OC has terminated their lease at Cypress Center and the Center is being proposed as an Art Gallery to be run by the City. We are currently working with Planning and Building to identify improvements needed to operate the center. • NEW RESTROOM AT PLAZA SANTA ANA o A concept to place a unisex restroom at Plaza Santa Ana was presented. Proposed location is on the northeast corner of the Plaza. This location is close to water source, visible from the street and plaza, and away from the PREY Regular Meeting Page 6 July 28, 2014 13B -6 main entertainment area. If approved staff will identify type of structure `, and funding. STAFF MEMBER COMMENTS o A list was provided identifying the various activities and improvements in Parks and Recreation. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS o Councilmember Reyna indicated he is looking forward to the Catalina Campout and is pleased with the pilot program on Sports Field Programming and Maintenance. o Councilmember Amezcua indicated she is pleased with the Sister City Program and the proposed Cypress Legacy Gallery. o Mayor Pro Tern Tinajero thanked everyone on providing input, the forward thinking and problem solving process. He also indicated Valley Ballfields are no longer available for joint use because of the Sports Complex Construction. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS c Next PREY meeting Monday, October 27, 2014 at 5:30pm. Room 1600, Santa Ana City Hall Ross Annex. ADJOURNED: 7:17 p.m. Gerardo Mouet Executive Director, PRCSA *.. PREY Regular Meeting Page 7 July 28, 2014 13B -7 13B -8